Lawrence Kao, left, plays Francis, Jackie Chung, plays Blue and Nelson Lee plays H, three siblings in the crime caper "Fast Company" playing at the Julianne Argyros stage at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. The play by Carla Ching is directed by Bart DeLorenzo. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Mable Kwan is a masterful grifter who knows a million ways of separating unwary people from their money. Her only problem is that it’s a family business, and you know what they say about mixing family and business.

“Fast Company,” a new play by Los Angeles native Carla Ching that debuts this week at South Coast Repertory, looks at the inner workings and complications of Kwan’s world as her daughter puts together “the score of the decade,” raising stakes, tensions and mutual distrust to the limit. It’s the first of four world premieres on SCR’s Julianne Argyros Stage – an entire season of new plays.

The Register talked recently to Ching and the production’s director, Bart DeLorenzo, about the play’s origins and the challenges of mounting a technically challenging world premiere.

Orange County Register: Reading the plot description, another great story about a con-artist family comes to mind: Stephen Frears’ 1990 film “The Grifters.” Did you imitate that model, avoid it or ignore it?

Carla Ching: I intentionally didn’t re-watch it, though it was at the back of my mind. I didn’t want to accidentally steal any of it when I was writing this. If anything, the movie that I was thinking of was ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ – a crazy family, very talented, young people that are raised eccentrically who have issues.

OCR: How did Mable end up in this profession?

Ching: I think it came to her early in life. I think Mable’s maybe second generation (Asian American). She was given that “pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you’re going to make it in America” mentality. I know my grandfather had that. It’s always about how to make it big time. He would take big risks, but the payoff was also big. So she comes from that kind of background, but obviously she takes things (over the line).

OCR: What makes Mable good at what she does?

Ching: Mable has learned to live off her charm and her wit, which is also a quality my grandfather had. He was very good with people. Mable can meet somebody and figure out what their need is and know what they want to hear, whether it’s flattery or advice or whatever.

OCR: What is Mable’s type of con?

Ching: She’s an inside man. In the con world you work your way up the ladder to finally become that person, the one who pulls off the con, who persuades people to do the wrong thing. Under her there’s the roper, who sets up the con: “I’ve found this fabulous Renoir, and you need to have a look because it’s something you’d appreciate.” The inside man then convinces the person that it’s authentic. Then there’s the fixer, who in this case would set up a fake art gallery where the con takes place. They call a con like this the big score.

OCR: Bart, what was your initial visual concept when you read this script?

Bart DeLorenzo: I got a flash of (inspiration) the first time I read it. The first thing I thought was, “The play’s called ‘Fast Company’ so it has to go fast.” I wanted it to move quickly from scene to scene, and I wanted it all to be very fluid. Because the play tips its hat to a certain style of movie, I wanted it to play as a continuing story rather than a series of scenes.

OCR: What did you imagine for the look of the play?

DeLorenzo: I love those title sequences by Saul Bass. (The famous graphic artist and filmmaker created the smart, stylish title sequences for many mid-20th-century blockbusters, including Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” “North by Northwest” and Otto Preminger’s “The Man with the Golden Arm.” The title sequence in “Catch Me If You Can” pays homage to Bass.) Hitchcock was my idol growing up, and I love the crisp geometry of those sequences and the sense of movement.

OCR: I understand that you were also influenced by Game Theory, which is an important element of the script.

DeLorenzo: I started looking at Game Theory diagrams; they sort of look like Saul Bass designs. From there I got into the idea of moving panels and film, so we’re using a lot of projections. I also watched “Ocean’s Eleven” before rehearsals started and there are a lot of retro visual jokes throughout as a result.

OCR: This all sounds complicated, especially for a debut production with limited rehearsal time.

DeLorenzo: We haven’t started tech yet. It’s going to be very challenging. But we are very prepared. The big blessing of this production is that Carla won an Edgerton Foundation grant that provides (money for) supplemental rehearsal time. I’ve never had an extra week, and it is fantastic. I think American regional theater would transform completely if every play had an extra week to rehearse.

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